I still take calls for clients.
But I only offer $0 upfront tests.
Recently I saw a guy (on UpWork) asking for a "comment funnel" on Instagram using Chatbots.
I've done work like this for years as a service.
In my response, I told the guy that I would rather do the work for free and if it brings in leads, I'd get paid on the results.
This got his attention... But he disappeared.
I had to tap and nudge for a few days to keep the opportunity active.
Eventually we connected on WhatsApp and started hashing out more details.
THEN I repositioned and shared my $$ target to see if the upside was even realistic for both us.
THAT got him really excited.
He shared all his logins and we should start testing this week.
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My takeaway is that I can still take client calls, but make my first proposal a risk-free-test.
Then if that gets traction and I can learn more and dig into larger upside campaigns.